Using Computers Now A Fine Art

Technology New Way For Teachers To Expand Vistas

In the late 1960s, after the microchip was invented, only visionaries could have predicted the effects that computers would someday have on education.

Stranger yet was the notion of computers being used to teach subjects such as music, art or literature.

Today, computers are found in classrooms everywhere, providing students with imaginative, creative and sometimes offbeat ways to study the fine arts.

At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, for instance, the creative process is being explored through the use of telecommunications technology.

With the help of computers and video equipment, students choreograph telecommunications events by creating and transmitting text, images and sound to places thousands of miles away.

The course, Telecommunication Art, introduces students to telecommunications as a means of artistic expression.

"Telecommunication art is one of the most exciting areas in art today," said Joan Truckenbrod, an associate professor in the arts and technology department. "What people don't realize is that modern technology actually stimulates creative thinking and can propel it in new directions."

One of the course highlights is a telecommunications hookup between students in a Chicago classroom and a place called the Electronic Cafe in Santa Monica, Calif.

The cafe, a futuristic-looking gathering spot for electronics wizards, high-tech artists and "Trekkies" (fans of the television series "Star Trek"), serves up computer histrionics along with its coffee and cappuccino.

The walls of the cafe are lined with video screens, TV monitors and video phones. Woven into the room's decor are camcorders, sound synthesizers and computer equipment.

Jennifer Crakow, a former student in the Art Institute class, described the event as "a creatively inspired multimedia extravaganza."

"It was really really wild," said Crakow, a graphic designer now living in San Francisco. "My mom lives in California and was at the cafe that day. The minute we saw each other on the screen, we started laughing and talking. It was as though she was sitting right next to me."

During the three-hour hookup, the class of about 10 students communicated with cafe patrons through video phones. Students' graphics and animations were transmitted and projected onto screens, and original prerecorded electronic music was piped into the cafe.

"The complexity of the event was truly incredible," Truckenbrod said. "It was virtual reality. What we created was a shared sense of presence by which everyone could interact."

At Oak Park-River Forest High School in Oak Park, theater students are designing stage sets with the help of a computer-aided design program similar to the kind used by architects in developing blueprints.

"We begin by doing it the old-fashioned way: with pencil and paper," said R.J. Michael Nielsen, director of technical facilities. "It's important that students understand the basics. There may not always be a computer to work on.

"Then we enter the information into the computer. By using symbols that represent doorways, windows, stairs, etc., we're able to save on space and the time it takes to do the actual drawings. After that, we take the computer disk to students in our architecture class, and they print it off onto a plotter. The print is given to students who then build the set from scratch."

Oak Park-River Forest, one of the few schools in the Chicago area using computers to design sets, mounts about eight productions a year.

"Using computers gives our students a leg up on other students," Nielsen said. "Professional theaters are using a similar software, and that gives our kids a real advantage when it comes time to look for a job."

Similarly, graphic arts students at Shepard High School in Palos Heights are honing their job skills by participating in an extra-credit program that is part of a commercial design class.

The program matches students with local businesses to design logos, business cards, print ads, letterheads, billboards and other promotional matter for the companies. All the work is free.

"It's like a community service," said Jan Meister, an art instructor. "The community pours a lot into the school, and we're trying to give them a return on their investment."

Layouts, illustrations and print work are all done by computer. Using a computer mouse, students are able to render drawings with clarity and precision. They use a printer with 250 colors.

"Having a computer to work with has made all the difference," said Jeff Duschene, a junior whose design is now the logo for A&M Chimney Sweep Co. in the south suburbs. "Ideas just kept popping into my head, and I kept making the changes. It took me awhile, but eventually I got it right. In the end, I liked the finished product."

Duschene designed a black and white logo in the shape of a house; the letters A and M form the roof and chimney. "The basic design had to be simple," he said. "From there, I just figured out a way of working the company's name into it."